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Thailand to launch new 'war on drugs'

BANGKOK - THAILAND will launch a new 'war on drugs' next month as the government revives a campaign that human rights groups say led to the extra-judicial killings of 2,500 people, a spokesman said on Friday.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej met with top anti-drugs officials Friday and decided to stage a six-month crackdown, deputy government spokesman Nathawut Saikua said.
'Our D-Day is April 2, and on that day we will officially announce the decisive measures that we will implement,' Mr Nathawut told reporters.
'I can assure anyone who is involved with drugs, you will get into trouble with the government. We will impose harsh measures, no matter your position or your profession,' he said.
Mr Nathawut said the number of drug users and dealers was rising.
Thailand had an estimated 1.9 million people either buying or selling drugs in 2003, when former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared the first war on drugs.
That number fell to 450,000 but Mr Nathawut said it rose last year to 570,000 people.
About 40 per cent of drug traffickers are believed to be operating out of suburban Bangkok and Muslim-majority provinces in southern Thailand, where a separatist insurgency is raging along the border with Malaysia.
Mr Thaksin launched the drug war to curb an alarming surge in the flow of narcotics through the kingdom.
His get-tough campaign enjoyed widespread public support and stemmed the supply of narcotics but human rights groups estimate at least 2,500 people died in extra-judicial killings in 2003 and 2004. Mr Thaksin has always denied any wrongdoing. -- AFP

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This could readily be placed into the Drug Policy Reform & Politics forum, but as the original posting is here...

This from The International Herald Tribune:

Thai government launches new war on drugs, emulating controversial 2003 campaign

Thailand has launched a war on drugs, reviving a controversial project of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose critics said his 2003 drug war cost many innocent lives.

Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung defended the new campaign as he inaugurated it Wednesday.

"There will not be any infringement of our people's liberties and I have never said that I have a policy of extrajudicial killings," Chalerm said. "But I said that drugs are a very complicated problem. If you don't want to die, don't walk down that road."

About 2,300 people were killed during Thailand's drug war. Human rights activists said there were many extrajudicial executions by police and other security forces.

The government said drug gangs carried out most of the killings to eliminate informers or rivals. Few if any people were tried or convicted over the slayings.

Thaksin's drug war was popular in some rural areas and slums where a tide of methamphetamine pills from neighboring Myanmar led to soaring addiction and crime.

"Should we do nothing because we are afraid that someone is going to criticize us?" Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said in February when he called for a new anti-drug campaign. "Why are you worried about the fate of drug traffickers?"

Samak's government, which took office early this year, has tried to emulate several of Thaksin's popular policies. Samak's party is widely seen as a stand-in for Thaksin's political machine.

Thaksin was ousted in a September 2006 military coup and a court barred him from holding office until 2012 after finding his party guilty of electoral fraud.

Vasant Panich, a former member of Thailand's independent state National Human Rights Commission, said his group knew of about 100 innocent victims of Thaksin's drug war, based on complaints it received.

"We do agree that the drug sellers should be punished, but we think that the lives of innocents are more important," he said Wednesday.

One of the better-known cases in the earlier drug war was that of 9-year-old Chakraphan Srisa-ad, who died from bullet wounds after police allegedly fired at the car driven by his mother as she fled a drug sting operation in which his father was arrested.

Witnesses and circumstances suggested that police fired at the car. Authorities said a man from the same drug ring that the father alleged belonged to fired the deadly shots, while police shot into the air. No one was convicted over the incident.

HONG KONG, China, A lot of talk in Thailand these days is about the prospects for a new "war on drugs," following on from the state-sponsored murders of people supposedly buying and selling amphetamines in 2003.

Although only a few killings have so far been reported in the weeks following the current prime minister's and interior minister's announcements that the war would resume, their enthusiasm for its methods does not seem to have been dampened by its manifest lack of success.

There is persistent argument about the numbers of persons killed and circumstances under which they died last time around. As there were few criminal inquiries and the scale of earlier killings was far beyond the capacity of human rights groups and the media to document fully, it is difficult to speak with certainty about what happened nationwide.

Instead, a better way to understand the mechanics of the "war" is to recall specific cases. In the last week or so a newspaper in Bangkok has been doing just this, publishing accounts of the dead and their relatives, such as that of Somjit Kayandee, who was shot in front of her family after visiting the local police station, and that of six northern men killed together in a pickup truck on their way home from an anti-drug meeting.

Another story published is that of Saman Thongdee, in 2003 a 47-year-old living with his partner of over twenty years, Charuayporn, and their two children in the big northwestern town of Tak.

Seven years earlier, Saman had been accused of dealing in drugs while working as a schoolteacher. He was transferred to an office job and had been investigated but let off. He had kept working in the new post.

But at dusk on April 9 of that year, a black sedan pulled up outside Saman's house. At least two of its occupants shot him dead with pistols before driving away.

When Charuayporn heard the news, she rushed back and found police and bystanders everywhere. A doctor arrived and went through the formalities of recording details of the deceased. Saman was shirtless. A police officer took off his pants and checked his underwear. Then his corpse was taken to the hospital.

After hospital staff finished their duties, Saman's body was moved to a room to be cleaned and readied for his funeral.

It was then that police ordered the family outside on the pretext of needing to take fingerprints and photographs and incise the deceased. Shortly thereafter, they called everyone back and suddenly produced a little blue plastic pack of pills: the same sort of little blue plastic pack "found" by police officers on drug-killing victims all over the country.

The police insisted that the drugs were in Saman's underpants, although an orderly had already removed these and thrown them into a rubbish bin without having uncovered anything. Nor had the doctor called to the scene of the crime noted the existence of any such pack either there or when re-examining the body at the hospital.

The police failed to come up with anything else to support their averment, but this didn't stop them from coming to Saman's house with letters issued following the orders of Prime Minister Pol. Lt. Col. Thaksin Shinawatra to seize property obtained through the drugs trade. They took most of what the family owned, including two cars, bank accounts, land, motorcycles and insurance deeds.

To top it off, Saman's insurance company refused to honor his life policy, claiming that he had lied about how he earned his income, although his case was never tried in court.

In 2004, a team from the National Human Rights Commission concluded that there was no firm evidence to support the police claims. Indeed, it found that their version of events was inconsistent with those of all other persons involved.

In 2006, Saman's case was transferred to the Department of Special Investigation together with a number of others, including that of a nine-year-old who was shot dead while sitting in a car; the police accused in that case have recently been acquitted.

The Justice Ministry also decided to return assets to Saman's family, quietly acknowledging that the charges against him were baseless. However, to date there has been no known action taken against the officers who set the case up.

With the unrepentant talk of Thailand's new government, it is unlikely there will be any further progress to the piecemeal efforts for justice in drug war cases. Whether or not there are fresh corpses in 2008, there are not likely to be fresh inquiries.

In every society criminal inquiry is affected by all sorts of pressures from outside groups and individuals, including those with political interests. However, Saman's case reveals the extent to which in Thailand justice is captive to these forces. The relatives of these casualties of "war" are down one moment and up the next as policies seesaw from government to government.

Throughout it all, the police remain much the same, and Saman's killers, like those of the war's victims across Thailand, all but forgotten.

The "extra-judicial killings" (i.e., murders) that took place in Thailand in 2003-2004 have been well documented by human rights organizations. Most estimates I read are that about 2300-2500 alleged yaba dealers were murdered. Many of those were rival dealers or people that the cops just set up. The story in the article above is a good example.

Aids and human rights activists are planning to organise demonstrations in front of an international UNAids meeting in Chiang Mai and New York City on Wednesday to call on the government to reconsider its controversial war on drugs, saying it undermined the fight against Aids.

They said Thailand's last effort to eradicate drugs, implemented in 2003 under former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, included extrajudicial killings, 'blacklisting' of suspected drug users and dealers, and forced drug 'treatment' in militarystyle facilities.

The campaign ended in nearly 3,000 lives, about half of whom had no connection to drugs, the groups said in a press statement released Tuesday.

"The 2003 war on drugs is notorious for the crimes against humanity perpetrated by Thai authorities," said Karyn Kaplan, Director of Policy and Development for Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG).

"We are horrified that Thailand would relaunch such a disastrous government policy," Kaplan said.

In addition to gross human rights violations, the 2003 drug war seriously disrupted drug users' access to essential services, such as HIV treatment, prevention information, counseling and equipment, by driving drug users even further underground, the statement said.

"While the government has said that they will respect human rights, they have proven that they can not be trusted without creating a detailed plan of exactly how they will protect drug users." said Amanda Lugg, Health GAP Board Member.

Kriengkrai Aiemprasert, outreach worker at Ban Mit Sampan Harm Reduction Center in Bangkok, said the drug war will have "disastrous consequences for the fight against AIDS in Thailandand it will not work as a response to drug use in Thai society," said.

"The Thai Prime Minister should end the war on drugs, and promote a response to drug use based on evidence, and human rights."

"An estimated 50 per cent of drug users in Thailand are HIVpositive. HIV incidence and prevalence in Thailand has declined overall, but not among people who use drugs or other highly vulnerable groups including men who have sex with men (MSM)," the statement said.

Paisan Suwannawong, director of the Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) and a former intravenous drug user, said instead of effective response, "the government has pledged to crack down on drugs and told us that we should expect more murders."

"The Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravej himself said killings are 'impossible to avoid' in a drug war. This kind of message is unacceptable and, essentially, a license to kill," Paisan said.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Promises of a war on drugs by Thailand's new government had many Thais fearing a replay of the heavy-handed 2003 anti-drug campaign that saw the deaths of almost 3,000 people. So far, however, the new war has been a restrained affair, revealing much about the political strength of Thailand's People's Power Party-led government.

The push for carrying out a second campaign against illicit drugs came from Thailand's new interior minister, Chalerm Yabumrung, who had campaigned on the issue. In the wake of his party's December 2007 election victory and with the approval of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, the interior minister declared the drug war officially started on April 2.

Thailand's previous drug war, which lasted from February to April 2003, was the brainchild of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. By 2003, the use of methamphetamines, known as ya ba or "crazy drug" in Thai, had become rampant in Thai society. Initially used by truck drivers on long haul routes, the drug had permeated all levels of society. The government estimated that year that 3 million Thais, or 5 percent of the population, were users, with 300,000 of those being addicts. It also estimated that 700 million tablets were being smuggled in from Burma each year.

Amid strong public discontent with the growing drug menace, at its beginning in February 2003 the drug war had widespread public support. Many Thais believed that getting tough with drug dealers was the only way to stop the epidemic and most of the population initially looked away or even applauded the heavy handed tactics of the authorities.

As the death toll mounted, however, public opinion began to change. Public outrage peaked when the killing of 9-year-old Chakraphan Srisa-ard by undercover police was reported in March 2003. The boy was shot twice in the back when police opened fire on his mother's car. The police had just arrested her husband in a sting operation.

Criticism also mounted against the Thaksin government from domestic and international human rights organizations, as well as from the United Nations and several foreign governments, including the United States. Opponents of the drug war noted the government's use of blacklists and "shoot to kill" orders for the police. In addition to criticism of the high death toll, observers noted that the campaign targeted low-level dealers and traffickers while ignoring larger gangs and their powerful political and military backers.

The police said the killings were the work of dealers silencing informants, but critics claimed the professional style of some of the killings indicated police involvement and accused police of planting drugs beside bodies and removing bodies before autopsies could be performed. Few of the homicides were ever investigated. Thaksin shrugged off the criticism. "Opponents can gather signatures to back their call for the government to let the drug dealers live happily. Why care about our children?" he said sarcastically. At the end of the three-month campaign, Thaksin declared it a success and claimed that 90 percent of the country's drug problem had been eradicated and that all drugs would be eradicated by the end of 2003.

There is no doubt that Thaksin's war on drugs had some effect on drug trafficking and use, but it certainly did not end it. The U.S. State Department's 2008 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report notes that consumption rates and trafficking volumes in Thailand have remained lower than before the 2003 drug war, and that prices are still three times higher. Heroin and opium usage are also reportedly on the decline, though that trend may be the consequence of a shift by some users to amphetamines, which remains Thailand's most commonly abused drug. The State Department numbers, what's more, are somewhat at odds with March 2008 figures from the Thai Office of the Narcotics Control Board, which show an increase in the number of drug users to 2.5 million in 2007 from 475,000 in the wake of the drug war in 2003. Heroin and amphetamines continue to move across Thailand's northern border with Burma and there are increasing reports of increases in trafficking through Laos and Cambodia into Thailand's northeast and east.

Following the September 2006 military coup, there were calls for investigations into the drug war killings, with some even calling for Thaksin to be tried for war crimes. The post-coup government under former Army commander Surayud Chulanont eventually convened an independent committee, led by former Attorney General Khanit na Nakhon, to investigate accusations that high-placed government officials were involved in some killings.

After a five-month investigation, the panel found that 2,819 people had been killed in 2,559 murder cases between February and April 2003. Of those deaths, 1,370 were related to drug dealing, 878 were not and 571 people were killed for no apparent reason. Critics claim these figures are low and some estimates put the number of people killed as high as 4,000. Northern Thailand's ethnic minorities were particularly hard hit, and many killings are believed to have gone unreported.

The report, issued Jan. 16, 2008, when it was clear that the pro-Thaksin PPP party would likely form the next government, found no concrete evidence linking senior figures with the killings. "Due to lack of evidence, as many witnesses have refused to come forward to provide vital information to the investigators, this panel couldn't hold anyone responsible," Surayud announced Jan. 20. With that pronouncement, the findings of the committee were buried.

After the PPP's win, many speculate, the members of the committee did not want to antagonize the new government by revealing the names of senior officials who may have ordered the killings or at least shaped policy. In Thailand's volatile political landscape, revenge is a factor in any political decision, and many members of the new government had strong ties to the Thaksin regime.

Undeterred by international criticism and seemingly unconcerned with popular opinion, the new PPP-led government then decided to make good on its pre-election promise of a renewed war on drugs. Both Prime Minister Samak and Interior Minister Chalerm appeared unconcerned about fears of a return to the unrestrained killings that went along with Thaksin's war on drugs.

When asked in February about the possibility of similar tactics in the new war, the prime minister told reporters, "Why are you worried about the fate of drug traffickers?" Similarly, Chalerm told parliament Feb. 20, "For drug dealers, if they do not want to die, they had better quit staying on the road. . . . Drugs suppression in my time as interior minister will follow the approach of Thaksin. If that will lead to 3,000-4,000 deaths of those who break the law, then so be it. That has to be done." And then on Feb. 22, in reply to questions about the possible innocence of those killed in the 2003 drug war, the interior minister responded, "If they were innocent, why were they killed?"

On his talk show on Feb. 24, Samak said, "I want people to understand that in order to fulfill the anti-drug objectives, extra-judicial killings do occur, but police officers responsible for those acts will have to face legal consequences. . . . It is impossible to avoid killings when implementing drug suppression. When the crackdown is underway, killings will take place."

Meanwhile, the undercover police officers accused of shooting 9-year-old Chakraphan were released in February. Despite the statement of an assistant police chief that the officers had "accidentally" killed the boy, the court ruled that the bullets did not come from a police weapon.

That same month, Sunai Manomai-udom, the head of Thailand's Department of Special Investigations (DSI), the equivalent of the FBI, was removed. Sunai had been overseeing the DSI's handling of several important cases, including the extrajudicial killings during the 2003 war on drugs.

In the lead up to the announcement of the new policy, Thailand came under pressure from foreign governments and human rights organizations, which expressed concern about the possibility of a renewed wave of killings. On March 12, Human Rights Watch called on the Thai government to pursue drug enforcement in accordance with international human rights law. "The Thai government must announce publicly that it will not proceed with a renewal of killings and other human rights violations in the name of a 'war on drugs,'" the organization said.

And yet, despite the government's strong rhetoric, the drug war that was announced April 2 has been somewhat restrained, amounting to a few arrests of minor dealers and traffickers, the use of almost routine traffic stops to check for drugs, and raids on bars and nightclubs in entertainment districts in Bangkok and other big cities.

The vastly toned down nature of the second war on drugs, though evidently politically popular, has highlighted the weakness of the PPP-led regime and the general perception that it may not last long. The PPP won the popular vote by a slim margin in December, and there is still much popular discontent with the former Thaksin regime. Many see the PPP as a proxy government for Thaksin and other former officials now banned from politics.

Thaksin's government had strong control over the police and other organs of power, and had successfully cowed the press and other elements of civil society, enabling a degree of official impunity during the 2003 drug war. The PPP does not have the same mandate, and police and government officials appear unwilling to carry out a similar policy without the protection of a strong government.

If Samak and Chalerm are not able to keep the new government together and new elections have to be called, it is likely the opposition Democrat Party, which most Thais consider to have been allied with the 2006 coup makers, would investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of any unjustified extrajudicial killings.

How auspicious that the byline reads: Chiang Mai. That is the railway center from which the heroin produced in the "Golden Triangle" is distributed for international flights. This was found during the Viet~Nam War when the CIA was running junk into the USA. And it is still thriving today.

The War On Drugs is a cynical farce orchestrated by the kingpins of the international drug trade.

About 40 per cent of drug traffickers are believed to be operating out of suburban Bangkok and Muslim-majority provinces in southern Thailand, where a separatist insurgency is raging along the border with Malaysia.

Click to expand...

Most of the yaba is made in Burma. There are no muslim provinces next to burma. If something could come from Malaysia, then it is Ganja I guess. Another guess is heroin could come from Afghanistan via Malaysia. But yaba is lot more popular than heroin in Thailand. So the number 40% must be a lot exagarated. Once a while (weekly?) there are news about someone with huge sack of hundreds of thousands of yaba pills getting busted.

Thailand is a very popular tourist destination, but there are heavy issues. Buildings are bombed by separatist. Wild shootings at muslims (see youtube). No wonder they say drugs come from there.

(Something for American interest, is that there is gas and oil industry in Malaysia.)